The tech press covers Apple like it does no other company. And one oddball, ongoing example of Apple exceptionalism is the fact that even its invitations to product launches are treated as major news. They’re also analyzed as if the minimalist words and imagery they contain will reveal precisely what Apple will announce, if only we can crack the code.

All of which gives me an excuse to…write about Apple invites as we wait for next week’s Apple product event to come around. “A Brief History of Apple Event Invites” recaps eight years of such invitations: what they said, what people thought they said, and whether expectations for the events in question had anything to do with the news that Apple actually released.

(Executive summary: Apple is often vague in its invites but never misleading, and it’s sometimes surprisingly straightforward.)